Washing and disintegrating apparatus.



PATENTED JULY 17, 1906.

, W. A. KUNEMAN. *msnma AND DISINTEGRA TING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION- IILED MAY 1, 1905. RENEWED DEC. 13, 1905- Zwmwax flM WILLIAM KONEMAN,

' Specification of Letters Patent;

I .or'pii oajeo; rnnrnor'sff WASHING AND ,DISINTEGhATi NQFKPFPKldl/KTlj paea i9,1906;

Applioationfiled i905. Renewed December 1 3, 19Q5. Serialllo. 291 631 I? To a, whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, WILlLIAM Av i-(oNEMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at 889 Nor Ashland avenue, Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Washing and Disintegrating Apparatus, of which "the following is a specification.

The apparatus forming the subject oi this invention has been devised by me for use more especially in carrying out the washing and& progressive disintegrating steps of a novel process for recovering rubber from rubber Waste, whichprocess forms the subject of arr-application for Letters Patent filed by me on the16th day of March, 1905, Serial No. 248,647. -HOWever, as'the' apparatus in the same or modified form'fnay be employed to advantage mother-connections or rubber-recovering processes I do not limit my improvements to use in any particular connection'.

My improved process above referred to consists, briefly and generally stated, in subjecting a mass of rubber'waste after it has been preparatorily subjected to disintegration to the action of chemicals in solution for the purpose of decomposing and dissolving fibrous and other undesirable component parts of the mass and also for suitably devulcanizing the rubber constituent which it is desired to recover. In carrying outthe said process, the mass is preferably subjected to various chemical treatments, as set forth in my aforesaid application, and after ach such treatment it is necessary to thoroughly wash the/mass to eliminatechemicals and other foreign material. It is also desirable intermediate of the said treatments to subject the mass to further destruction of the cohesion of constituent p'arts.-

My object in devising the present apparatus'is" to provide a combined washing and sqilie'ezing means of improved construction w A A A are end frames provided at their'tops Z a with bearings for parallel squeezing-rollers ch will carry out the steps of. washing and also further disintegration of the" mass, if de- B. The shaft oteaeot the rollers carries 'a (in ampulley B? beyond-the end frame A, and the other roller B is journaled in suitable spring-pressed journaLboxes b, tending to press the said roller 'yieldingly against the other roller. Beyond the end frame A the shafts of the rollers are connected in driving relation by gears B which may be of unequal diameters, whereby one roller turns at greater speed than the other. Their relative V speeds may, for example, be as three to four, or when a squeezingaction only is desired the rotation. of the rollsymay be rendered equal.

by providing gears B of equal diameters.

Surrounding the pair of. rollers is a recep tacle 01." casing C, which I prefer to' provide in the. fa rm of a cylinder or drum open at both ends; The drum consists of end rings c c, grooved on their inner faces to receive the ends ofslats d or the like each at an angle, as indicated, to a right line drawn from the center to the periphery of the drum. Ex

tending around the slats and fastened' at'op.v

posite ends to the rings a is a cylindrical screen 6, which may be approximately forty mesh or of such fineness as required. The drum may rest at its rings 0 in grooved rollers f, as indicated, and be rotated on the said bearingstinthe direction of the arrow, Fig. 2) by any suitable drivin g meansas, for example, the gear 0 and pinion c Within the drum above the bite of the rollers B are longitudinally-extending inclined deflector-plates, forming between them a hopper D, as shown. Also within the'drum beneath the rollers is a series of cross extending inclined deflectorplates E, which may be disposed as shown.

Extending" from the receiving end of the.

drum, beneath the rollers more or less nearly to the discharge end-of the drum, is a perforated water-supply pipe'F, and beneaththe drum is a trough G, whichmay be divided transversely, as shown, into three compartments g h 'i,having separate drainage-outletsk;

4 6 v j en-er is provided with aeehes of ciifdiirr'i'iereiitial grooves 'm, which facilitate the escape of liq- ](O The mass of mate'rial undergoing treatuid s ueezed from the material downward over t e deflector-plates E to the lower part of the revolving screen and through the latter to the trough G. As the material is discharged .ou'gh the rollers it drops onto the deflectors and is thereby advanced toward the discahrge end 12, of the drumfbein subjected to the stream of water discharge from the pipe F. The material after it has been fed into the receiving end of the drum is raised by the buckets, fed thereby to the. rolls, and as it is dischar ed by the rolls is advanced step by step. 1 ing to eliminatesolution, surplus water, and foreign matter carried thereby,- is further disintegrated by the tearing action of the rolls, and may also beagain saturated with water at each step. The rubber constituent of the mass is in granular articles too large to pass through the meshes of the drum. Decompose'd or partly-decomposed fibrous portions of the mass and other foreign substances will pass readilthrough the screen under the action of t e escaping solution and washing operation produced by the water. The first compartment 9 will catch the solution of the chemicals employed in the 7 previous step of the process. In th'e next compartment h the washings and dilute solution will be caught, and the final compartment'i catches the finalwashings. The iquid thus caught in the compartments is of decreasin chemical strength and may as far as desire be saved and used a ain. As the material is advanced beyond t e end of the pipe I it is subjected to no further washing operations; but the rollers operate to further disintegrate the materiaLand cause it to be discharged in a condition free from surplus 'water onto the final deflector-plate E, which directs it throu h the discharge end of the drum. When ischarged, the mass will be thoroughly "washed of all chemicals employed in the last previous treatment.

While I prefer to construct the apparatus as shown and described, the drum or other suitable casing may, if desired,-be stationary and provided with a screen along its lower side. In that event the buckets formed by the slats d or otherwise would be mounted independently in the drum to rotate and preferably scra e lightly against the inner surface of-the rum as they rotate to raise and discharge the material into the rollers.

By inclining the drum from the inlet to the outlet end thereof the deflector-plates E may be dispensed with.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination-of a casing having an inlet for the material a be acted upon and an outlet therefor, squeezing mechanism for the material extending within the casing betweenthe said inletand outlet, raising means t is thus subjected to squeezin the casing operating to lift the material and feed it to the squeezing mechanism, means for supplying Water to the material in the casing, and means operating to ady'ance the material from the inlet to the out- 2. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination of a casing having an inlet for the material to be acted upon and an outlet therefor, rotary squeezing-rollers for the :material extending longitudinally within the casing between said inlet and outlet,

raising means in the casing operating to lift the material and feed it to the squeezingrollers, means forsupplying water to the material in the casin and means operating to advance the material, between the s ueezing operations, from the inlet to the out et.

, 3. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination'of a casing having an inlet for the material to be acted u on and an outlet therefor, squeezing an disintegrating mechanism for the material extending longitudinally within the casing between said inlet and outlet, raising means in the casing operating-to lift the material and feed it to the said mechanism, means for supplyin water to the material in the casing, an means operating to advance the material from the inlet to the outlet 4. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination of a casing having an inlet for the material to ,be acted upon and an out-- let therefor, cooperating squeezing and disintegrating rollers for the material rotating at relatively difierent speeds and extending within the casing between said inlet and outlet, raising means in the casing operating to lift the material and feed it to the said rollers, means for supplyingwater t0 the material in the casing, and means operating to advance the material, between squeezing and disintegrating operations, from the inlet to the outlet.

5. In a machine for the purpose set forth,

the combination of a drum having an inlet for the material to be acted upon andan outlet. thereforgs ueezing mechanism for the material exten ing lon itudinally Within the drum betweenthe sai inlet and outlet, revolving buckets on the inner circumferential surface of the drum operating to lift the material and feed. it to the squeezing mechanism, means for supplying water to the material in the drum, and means operating to adyance the material from the inlet to the out- 6. Ina machine for the purpose set forth,

' the combination of a rotary perforate drum having' an inlet for the material to be acted upon, at one end and an outlet-therefor at its opposite end, cooperating squeezin and disintegrating rollers for the materia rotating at relatively differentspeeds and extending within the drum between said inlet and out- Ito fsupplying water to the material in the drum, I

advance the material, between the s ueezing and disintegrating operations, step y step from the inlet to the outlet.

let, buckets on the inner circumferential sur- 7. In a machine for'the purpose set forth, e the combination of a rotary perforate drum having an inlet for the material to be acted upon and an' outlet therefor, cooperating squeezing-rollers for the material extending longitudinally within the drum between said inlet and outlet, a'lo itudinally-extending' hopper in the drum a 'ove the bite of the and discharge it into the hopper, means for and means. operating to advance the material, between the squeezing operations, from the inlet to the outlet.

, .8. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination of a rotary perforate drum having aninletfor the material-to be acted upon and an ,outlet therefor, squeezing mechanism for thematerial extending longitudinallywithin the drum between said inlet and outlet, raising means in the drum operating to lift the materialand feed it to the squeezing mechanism, means for" supplying Water to thematerial; in the drum, means operating .to advance the material from the inlet to the outlet, and a trough beneath the drum eX- tending between the said inlet and outlet and divided transversely into a plurality of compartments, substantially as and for the pur pose set forth.

, WILLIAM A. KGNEMAN. In presence ,of

J. H. LANDES, -A. U. THoUEN. 

